ColorsSierra McCallWriting on Canvas BoardApril 2017In the first panel, a man is receiving his draft notice. His silhouette is black, matching the black and white surroundings. In the second panel, the man is at war. Now, the background is colored, and the color has spread to him. In the final panel, he has returned home. His surroundings are black and white, relatively unchanged from the first panel, but he still has the colors in his head. The truth that I am trying to convey is that war changes the veterans, and makes it very hard to fit in once home again. I was inspired by a story called “Speaking of Courage,” in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” about a man who had survived the war and returned home, but then committed suicide because he felt no one could listen to or understand what he’d been through. He has all of these stories from war that he wants to tell, but he feels no one would understand them. The stories are all swirling around in his head, and he feels hated for being a veteran. I felt that his story captured the quintessential experience that I found in the rest of the veteran accounts.

​I wrote the poem itself in class. The writing went relatively quickly, about twenty minutes for the poem itself. I printed out the silhouettes, and pasted them onto the canvases. I then added the background details in pencil. I painted the colors on with watercolor paint. From creating this piece I learned that there are ways to illustrate a poem in ways that enrich and work with the poem itself, a discovery I hope I’ll be able to use in future projects. In the beginning my idea was a little different, I was originally going to illustrate the protagonist losing part of himself instead of being changed by the colors, but I’m happier with how this turned out. I think I was able to convey my idea much more effectively using the color to show how he’d been changed by the war.

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1:How did we explore the truth of war in this project? You may want to explain learning about the Cold War, examining documents from the Gulf of Tonkin incident, reading and discussing “The Things They Carried,” our visits from veterans, and our art project.2: How did you strengthen your skills during this project? You may want to reflect on your critical thinking skills, your listening and empathy, your artistic skills, or your writing skills, or your time management. You may want to reflect on howyou were challenged, and how you grew.3: What enduring understandings will you take away from this project? You may want to consider what you think is true in war, where we can find truths about war, how we can express truths about war, how we can determine the truth when there are conflicting sources, or why finding the truth about the Vietnam War matter today?